This Restoration Coffee
House (RCH) session will address the major challenges in setting
priorities in the implementation of large-scale ecosystem
restoration programs. Technical, financial, and political realities
have lead leaders and managers of large-scale ecosystem restoration
programs across the country to use a variety of priority setting
methods. Each one when faced with the pressures of showing early and
long term restoration successes have explored changing the methods
or processes for setting priorities as the program proceeded the
multi-year effort. A challenge faced by these large programs is
agreement on a method that can adapt to the changing implementation
environment and/or new science that emerges over time. Uncertainty
of funding sources throughout the long term program also requires a
robust priority setting process. This RCH session will discuss
lessons learned and identify improved processes based on existing
successes and failures of setting priorities of several large-scale
ecosystem restoration programs around the country. The discussion by
the panel and the audience will be initially guided by the following
questions.

How important and
realistic was it to set large-scale ecosystem restoration
priorities for your program given technical, financial, and
political realities?

What were the
three or four most important factors you considered in your
prioritization process, and how did you weight them? Did
negotiation play a role?

How did the
restoration effort use adaptive management in setting
priorities? What lessons have you learned to improve the
process?

Once your planning
process was in place, what approach did you use to accommodate
high priority emerging issues such as species declines,
potential changes to the system (e.g., climate change), funding
source priorities, and stakeholder pressure?

Were impacts of
land use (e.g., local jurisdictions) and societal economics
considered as part of the prioritization process?